Thank you for an informative topic, guys. Finally got my first two new LEGO horses this week from Lord of the Rings sets. I do like the rearing up of the new horse, and it does seem pretty realistic in proportions, but the smaller head takes some getting used to. Also the barding looks quite big and heavy with the new petite head, perhaps they will make the new barding slightly smaller when they redesign it for poseabilty. I can confirm that the LEGO Kingdoms headgear does not fit the new horse, I tried.

I just got a 2 of the new horses yesterday. They look great and are the same size as the old ones but the head and skinnier legs make them seem a lot smaller. I've decided that the old horses are going to be Clydesdale's and the new ones will be regular horses. The new horses seem too small when you put a fully armoured knight on them.

dyntar wrote:I just got a 2 of the new horses yesterday. They look great and are the same size as the old ones but the head and skinnier legs make them seem a lot smaller. I've decided that the old horses are going to be Clydesdale's and the new ones will be regular horses. The new horses seem too small when you put a fully armoured knight on them.

I've never researched it but I think Clydesdale's are technically draft horses (opposed to being a breed of warhorse). Having the older horses being a heavy warhorse breed (if you want to call them Clydesdale's feel free) and the newer ones being lighter warhorse or even riding horse breeds that'd be an easy sale here. I just got my hands on one of the new horses yesterday evening and looking at them literally side by side there is very little actual difference in size, the more rounded sculpting (to my eye) makes it seem like there should be but there isn't. The head on the new style is actually WIDER than the older styles horse's head (I suspect that is the reason that the old headgear will not work on the new style horse, quick check of available headgear confirms suspicion). The widest part of the hold style horse's head was at the nose/tip and the new style horse is wider there and get a bit wider still up the eyes. The ears are not as wide as the eyes but still are around one and a half times the width on the new style horse compared to the old. One other thing I hadn't noticed until I started comparing the two side by side is that on the old version all four hoof's have the negative cavity to fit a stud to attach to a plate, the new horse only has 3 such attachments. The left front hoof is molded in mid step is the difference.

I still like the new design and I am VERY appreciative that they were able to incorporate the new pose-ability while retaining the ability to use the old barding.

As kind of a side note, draft horses tend to be slower and able to pull more weight at a steady pace, many warhorses were breed for differing characteristics. While endurance was always sought nomad horse archers (think huns) prized different breeds than fully armored late med-evil knights wearing full plate did.

I've now got two of the new horse, and I like them more than the olg one. However, the incompatibility with the old horse accessories is annoying. I think that knights will keep the old horse because it can have armor, while the new horse goes to lightly armored soldiers or peasants. They may only go to one faction, which I would base on the Rohirrim from the LOTR sets, only make the figures yellow.

Yea considering there will be new accessories for the new horse, there is no nedd for that kind of customination and I don´t think it would look really good either. But Bronx blasphemy? I don´t think that is a fitted word or meaning to use in this situation!

SPACE MARINE wrote:Well, I don't have any of the new horses, but, in theory, couldn't you put an old horse head on a new horse to get the best of both worlds?

Assuming the horse is put together the same way and has the same type of ring mount for the head, then that should work, yes.

bronx wrote:(...why? It's been stated there will be new horse accessories for the current model of horse.)

Yes. New horse accessories. Which means new designs. Which means if you want a horse to wear any of the existing designs, you're bang outta luck if you consider swapping pieces to be "blasphemy".

There's no cutting or glue involved, if that isn't clear- the old horse at least could be pried apart at its seams, and merely clicked back together. Little different from switching legs or arms on a minifigure.

mencot wrote:But Bronx blasphemy? I don´t think that is a fitted word or meaning to use in this situation!

Perhaps I should have thrown a smiley afterwards, considering I meant it more facetiously than actually condemning the inquirer to the depths of Megablocks and branding them a heretic.

Although, had I been serious, we probably would have agreed to disagree and that would have been fine, since opinion is an individual matter. It's a beautiful thing.

Shadowviking wrote:Yes. New horse accessories. Which means new designs. Which means if you want a horse to wear any of the existing designs, you're bang outta luck if you consider swapping pieces to be "blasphemy".

There's no cutting or glue involved, if that isn't clear- the old horse at least could be pried apart at its seams, and merely clicked back together. Little different from switching legs or arms on a minifigure.

I imagined a full display of surgical tools and an operating room being needed for a horse head transplant; did not realize it was this easy (or presumed as such, since I understood your comment as coming solely from what the old horse model was capable of).

Might be interesting to see an old head on a new body, merely for the purpose of using this headpiece I will otherwise sorely miss.

I got a new horse for myself last week, and I must agree that it is an improvement. I'll be useing them interchangably, as I don't have all that many of the old ones either. I do look foward to seeing what kind of armor is made for the new horse.

Does anyone think that the skeletal horse will be remade in this style? That would be great.

Does anyone think that the skeletal horse will be remade in this style? That would be great.

I don't think they will make a new mold for a skeletal horse, however if they don't, the next best thing would be a black horse with Glow in the Dark printing on it like the mummy in the new Monster Fighters set.

Chief Smithy of Brick ForgeI buy LEGO, I play with LEGO, therefore LEGO are not for children, they are for me!